Student Blog

You could be doing anything right now – by @_TManning

You could be doing anything right now

Recently I signed up to Netflix. After an hour of watching I felt viscerally angry that none of my friends had told me how good it was, or exactly what I was missing out on.

Before Netflix, I’d spend ages searching for a working link for a particular show, then wait for it to buffer, then squint to watch it in 380p whilst simultaneously batting away pop-ups. But now, at a single click, I have a ton of shows, in HD, add-free. Goodbye TVC’s, goodbye banner ads and pop-ups, goodbye pre-rolls.

It may seem odd, but signing up to Netflix has really made me question what the future roll of advertising will be, and where I’ll fit into it. The point was hammered home in a masterclass from Thiago de Moraes where he reminded us that, “people can do literally anything with their time.” **Literally anything**

It’s all too easy to get sucked into the world of marketing, where the product you’re flogging has been your life and your living for years. The last thing you want to be is some doddery old marketer boring ‘time-poor, young, urbanites’ with stories of your brand’s former glory. People don’t care nearly as much as you think they do.

In ‘Truth, Lies & Advertising”, Jon Steel writes, “I have always regarded advertising as being like a person you meet at a party.” You decide very quickly whether or not you like that person, and if not, you spot a long-lost friend across the room and keep moving.

I often think back to what Teddy said when he was asked why he was at the school. He said, “I’m here to make ads that people search on Youtube and watch five times in a row.” Spot on. Would I? Or would I rather watch Netflix instead?